ALBUM REVIEW: The Milk Lizards – Warm (self-released)
As someone who was brought up listening to The Shadows, I’ve always had a soft spot for instrumental music. So I was intrigued to receive the new album by The Milk Lizards, who describe themselves as ‘the North East Coast’s premier instrumental surf band’. You mean there’s more than one?
While the original ’60s surf music came from Southern California, the Lizards hail from the somewhat cooler climes of Sunderland.
They are a tight three-piece whose sound is true to the traditional surf rock sound pioneered by Dick Dale and popularised by the likes of The Surfaris and The Ventures, before The Beach Boys added vocals and went global.
Consisting of a guitarist, bass player and drummer, sadly none of whom are credited, this is The Milk Lizards’ second album proper, after 2018’s debut Planet Beach, an EP and a bunch of live bootlegs.
There’s nine tracks in all, clocking in at 30 minutes, and they’re all originals except Monster From The Surf – a cover of a track written by Frank Sinatra Jnr and performed by San Francisco’s masked surf rockers The Phantom Surfers.
The Milk Lizards bring a DIY punk approach to an often-overlooked genre, which enjoyed a revival in the ’90s after the use of Dick Dale’s Misirlou in the smash hit movie Pulp Fiction, and has stayed around in underground circles ever since.
Warm was recorded in traditional fashion, live in a room using five microphones, with minimal overdubs, and I’d imagine it was as much fun to make as it is to listen to – and by that I mean a lot.
The twanging, reverb-drenched guitar is present and correct on tracks like urgent opener Sea Vixen, Venus Fly Trap and The End Of The World, along with a locked-in and driving rhythm section.
The fact the whole thing is set among the sound of gently washing waves and gulls calling makes you wish for warmer times, when we were all allowed to go to the beach without a state of emergency being called.
My favourite track is probably Rat’s Tail, mainly because it captures the spirit of The Shadows, who introduced me to the joys of instrumental music.
But there’s plenty here to grab the attention of guitar-lovers, even if you don’t class yourself as a surf rock fan. And I bet they’re great live (remember when gigs were a thing?). 7/10.
- Warm is available on black vinyl-look CD or to download from The Milk Lizards’ Bandcamp page HERE, along with the rest of their back catalogue.
